Journals and Posts

My great-great grandmother was Margaret Alice Climo Simmons. In the 1970's her daughter, Ada, wrote her recollection of the oral family history.

John Climo (1789-1856), a soldier, travelled from Cornwall to Nantwich, Cheshire, in search of a deserter. He boarded with one of the Tomkinson families of Nantwich. Before leaving 2 weeks later, he requested their daughter Ann's (1791-1839) hand in marriage. Ann's mother refused, and so she eloped with John. They moved back to Bodmin in Cornwall. They may have had a daughter in 1811, however, they were officially married in Chester in 1814. Ann's mother's maiden name was Vaudrey. Ann's father was a tailor in Nantwich, and she was a seamstress in Bodmin. There is some confusion about a John Climo marrying an Ann Vawdrey, but this would be a different Ann. John and Ann had many children, Ada only knew of 3: Thomasine, Richard and Joseph Tomkinson Climo b. 1837 who was her grandfather. Joseph and Richard moved to Portsmouth in the late 1850's where they worked as tailors for the R.N., likely for an outfitters. John married a widow, Margaret Jane Abercrombie Strachan Grandy, there in 1860 and they had 4 children, Margaret, Joseph, John and Charles. Joseph's wife died on December 31, 1868, as a result of burns from her dress catching fire.

Joseph's sister had moved and married in Nantwich, her mother's home town. After his wife's death in 1868, Joseph moved back to Nantwich with his children and was living with some Tomkinsons there at the time of the 1871 census. Ada said he went back to Portsmouth to work and left the children with a widow, Elizabeth Williams, whom he later married. Lizzie did not treat the children well, and when they were grown and Joseph learned of her neglect, he put her out of his house. Joseph Climo died in Nantwich in 1898.

Margaret married Albert Simmons. When their first child died as a result of injuries, they moved to Windermere. They were there for 2-3 years, where their next to children were born. My great-grandad, Joseph Climo Simmons, was born there in 1887. The family then moved to Leicester where Albert obtained good work. Their remaining children were born there.

In 1904, when Joseph was 16 he ran off to join the army in Darby. He came home on a 10d furlough before being sent to India. He begged his mother to buy him out, as he was underage. However, she would not because he had done this twice already. So, Joseph "jumped ship" to Canada. He wrote home with glowing reports of cheap land. His father arrived in 1905 and his mother and surviving siblings came in 1906. They spent one winter in Manitoba which they experienced to be utter wilderness and moved to Toronto in 1907. Joseph and his brother moved back to Saskatchewan. His oldest sister moved to Vancouver. His parents stayed in Toronto until 1922 and moved to California with their youngest daughter. Albert is buried near Los Angeles, but his wife, Margaret Alice Climo Simmons is buried in Vancouver.